_Agam_. nempe isdem in _istis Thessalis navalibus pax alta_ rursus Hectoris patri _fuit_. _Pyrrh_. est _regis_ alti _spiritum_ regi dare. _Agam_. cur dextra _regi spiritum_ eripuit tua? _Pyrrh_. mortem _misericors_ saepe pro vita dabit. _Agam_. et nunc _misericors_ virginem busto petis? _Pyrrh_. iamne immolari virgines credis nefas? _Agam_. praeferre patriam liberis regem decet. _Pyrrh_. _lex_ nulla capto parcit aut poenam impedit. _Agam_. quod non vetat _lex_, hoc vetat fieri pudor. _Pyrrh_. quodcumque _libuit_ facere victori _licet_. _Agam_. minimum decet _libere_ cui multum _licet_. Idly strumming on his tuneful lyre. _Pyrrh_. Then mighty Hector, scornful of thy arms, Yet felt such wholesome fear of that same lyre, That our _Thessalian ships_ were left in _peace_. _Agam_. An equal _peace_ did Hector's father find, When he betook him to Achilles' _ships_. _Pyrrh_. 'Tis regal thus to spare a _kingly life_. _Agam_. Why then didst thou a _kingly life_ despoil? _Pyrrh_. But _mercy_ oft doth offer death for life. _Agam_. Doth _mercy_ now demand a maiden's blood? _Pyrrh_. Canst thou proclaim such sacrifice a sin? _Agam_. A king must love his country more than child. _Pyrrh_. No _law_ the wretched captive's life doth spare. _Agam_. What _law_ forbids not, yet may shame forbid. _Pyrrh_. 'Tis victor's right to do whate'er he _will_. _Agam_. Then should he _will_ the least, who most can do. MILLER. The cleverness of this is undeniable: individual lines (e.g. the last) are striking. Taken collectively they are ineffective; we feel, moreover, that the cleverness is mere knack: the continued picking up of the adversary's words to be used as weapons against himself is wearisome. It would be nearly as great a strain to listen to such a dialogue as to take part in it: the atmosphere is that of the school of rhetoric, an atmosphere in which sensible and natural dialogue is impossible.[188]